


The Happy Ending

by KristinaR415



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Ancient Egyptian Deities, Ceremonial Duel, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining, Post-Ceremonial Duel, Resurrection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:08:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23732842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KristinaR415/pseuds/KristinaR415
Summary: Yugi won the ceremonial duel and discovered that Atem was his soulmate and just when they were all ready for him to go to the afterlife, someone gives him the greatest gift of all... a new chance at life.
Relationships: Atem/Mutou Yuugi, Mutou Yuugi/Yami Yuugi
Comments: 1
Kudos: 46





	The Happy Ending

**Author's Note:**

> Well, it´s been a while since I posted a story on here and I suddenly found inspiration and time in the last few months, so here I am posting a fanfic about a recently discovered OTP and hoping that people will read it and like it as much as I do. Hope you enjoy it :-D

The world is filled with people not seeing colour, not seeing the colour of the sky, the clouds, the sun or anything else, just because they´re unfortunate not to have found their soulmate yet and some never find that one person that they´re destined to be with.

Everyone is born without the ability to see colour, but once you touch your soulmate, the world will burst into colour and the only way you can lose it again is if your soulmate dies.

Not all people get to have a happy ending with their soulmates, and some lose them not long after meeting them to unfortunate accidents or other stuff out of their hands, because they´re in the hands of destiny.

Yugi has yet to meet his soulmate, but with the adventure, his life has been since completing the millennium puzzle, it may be for the best because he wouldn´t want to drag them through it with him, just like he did with his friends.

He always wanted to meet that one person, the perfect person for him, but after sharing mind and body with the pharaoh, he´s realized that destiny may be wrong sometimes, because the pharaoh may not be his soulmate, but he wished with all his heart, that he was; although that would be too cruel to the both of them. They all knew that going on the pharaohs´ final journey meant that they had to say goodbye because he didn´t belong there, he didn´t belong with Yugi… he just had to accept that, suck it up and win the ceremonial duel, so the pharaoh could finally move on to the afterlife to be with his friends and family.

Yugi just wished it didn´t have to hurt as much as it did.

…

Somewhere doing the duel, Yugi completely forgot what winning this duel would mean, he just knew that he had to win to set the pharaoh free. He just forgot what that meant until the pharaoh played the one card, Yugi predicted he´d play so many turns ago, and he did exactly as predicted and summoned Slifer the Sky Dragon. Yugi had to reveal his card and negate the played card, but that simple action meant that he could deliver the final blow, which made him remember what it all meant.

It had been an emotional rollercoaster and it all culminated into this one moment, the moment that decided it all, win or lose, although Yugi felt like he´d be losing no matter what.

Delivering that final blow, the blow that would wipe out Atem´ remaining life points. It hurt to just think about it and the tears started to sting in Yugi´ eyes. His chest felt tight and he had a lump in his throat. He seemed to be shaking too, but he barely registered it, seeing as he was trying to keep the tears at bay and finish the duel.

When Atem said “Go on, your move” he knew he had to pull himself together, but it took a lot more than that to do it. He could practically hear Atem in his head saying “It´s alright, Yugi, proceed”, which he knew was no longer a possibility because when they separated, they lost that connection to each other, but maybe because they had shared so much and been so close for so long, Yugi knew what he was thinking without being able to hear it.

He blinked away his tears, composed himself and used the last of his willpower to end this by giving an order: “Alright, Silent magician, attack his life points directly!”.

When his life points hit zero, Yugi´ legs gave out and he fell onto his knees, crying his eyes out. Yugi had just defeated Atem, which meant he was free to go to where he belonged, to go to the afterlife to be with his ancient friends and family.

Yugi could hear him moving closer as he said “Congratulations, well done”, but it barely registered in his mind, because he was so grief-stricken. Atem walked even closer and his hand hovered over Yugi´ shoulder when he said “Yugi, a champion doesn´t belong on his knees, you achieved a great victory for us both” and then he placed his corporal hand on Yugi´ shoulder and electricity zipped up his spine and the stone beneath his hands burst into colour. His eyes widened as he looked at Atem´ black boots and BLUE pants, so that´s what blue looks like.

His eyes carefully travelled up Atem´ legs as he figured out why he could suddenly see colour; Atem and he were so much more than partners and friends; they were soulmates and he´d just set him free. He was free to go to where he belonged, and Yugi was going to live a life void of colour, happiness and love. His soulmate would leave him to go live in the afterlife and leave him all alone and grey in life.

“Yugi,” Atem said with surprise in his voice, so he must´ve experienced the same as Yugi did.

Yugi was suddenly pulled into a tight hug, that he couldn´t help but reciprocate, holding Atem just as tightly, with tears still pouring down his cheeks and wetting the other´s shirt, but none of them cared. Yugi suddenly felt tears wetting his hair, because of their height difference, he rested his head on Yugi´.

He suddenly pulled Yugi´ head up by his chin and soft lips were on his. He couldn´t believe it, Atem was kissing him! Yugi kissed him back with as much passion as Atem was kissing him with. The kiss was a bit salty because tears were still pouring down both of their cheeks. They knew they had to say goodbye and that hurt more than anything else the world had ever thrown at them because they were two halves of the same soul and they would have to be separated and live in a grey world until Yugi died too, which wouldn´t be for a while. 

The kiss was sloppy because they were both inexperienced, but they wouldn´t have it any other way, because that just showed how much they both cared about each other and how much they wanted to show each other that.

They both had to separate for air, but they rested their foreheads against each other, and Yugi opened his eyes – when did he close them? – only to see Atem already looking at him with adoration and something else in his ruby eyes. That was the moment, that Yugi knew he felt the same as he did, so he didn´t hold back and just blurted out what was in his heart.

“I love you, Atem. I love you more than I´ve ever loved anyone else and I hate to say goodbye to you, but this isn´t your time and you don´t belong here, you never did. You died before your time and was trapped for thousands of years, so you never got to live the life you were destined to live, but that is not our call to make. Only the gods can decide destiny and they decided long ago that you would go to the afterlife, so that´s where you will go whether we want you to or not” Yugi said while fresh tears streamed down his face and he had to look at the ground because he was so embarrassed.

Atem grabbed his cheeks and guided his head, so Atem´ ruby eyes met his amethyst orbs.

“I love you too, Yugi and I do not wish to say goodbye either, but I know what I have to do and where I have to go, but that does not mean that I like it. I just found my soulmate and I am supposed to let him go just when we found each other and gained colour. I do not want to, but it was decided long ago, that we would meet each other and say goodbye to each other before we were truly ready. I am truly sorry, that our love was destined to never be in life, but only in the afterlife. I will see you once destiny decides that it is your time. I will wait for you with a heavy heart, but I will be waiting nonetheless” Atem said and dragged him into one final kiss, which he, of course, returned while placing a hand on one of Atem´ to show him that he understood but was still saddened.

They pulled apart, but not too far because they rested their foreheads against each other again and just enjoyed their final moment together, completely ignoring everyone and everything around them. Their friends were sure to have a lot of questions, like when this development in their relationship happened, but they didn´t have the time to tell stories.

Suddenly the room was bathed in a golden light and they could both hear the others react to it. Yugi opened his eyes right as Tristan said “Hey, look!” as he pointed towards the eye of Udjat, so Yugi followed his finger and saw the eye bathed in a golden light, so he decided to, sadly, pull away from Atem right as Joey asked “What´s up with the eye?”, which made Atem turn towards them to see for himself right as Ishizu said “now that the battle ritual is complete, the eye of Udjat, that guards the door to the spirit world, has awakened and the spirit of the great Pharaoh which was trapped in the Millennium puzzle five thousand years, is now free” which made Atem sigh as he pulled them both to stand by Yugi´ hands and took a step back to fully take in a coloured Yugi, just as Yugi took him in and locked the image away in his memories.

“Guess this is it,” Yugi said when they were both done and gave Atem one final kiss, before letting him go completely and taking a few steps backwards to stand next to his grandpa, who put a hand on his shoulder for comfort. Yugi nodded at Atem to signal that he was now free to go.

Atem sent grandpa a smile and he smiled back, then he looked to the floor and uttered a quiet “goodbye, my love” and turned to walk towards the eye. When he stood in front of it, he took a deep breath and turned towards it.

“So, this is it,” said Tea, surprised and saddened by what was about to happen and also for what had transpired between the two males just moments ago and what that meant for the both of them.

“The time has arrived, tell the eye of Udjat your name,” said Ishizu and gestured for him to go ahead.

Atem didn´t even look at her or anywhere else but at the golden eye before him as he said with a powerful, booming voice that echoed off the golden walls: “I am the son of king Aknamkanon! My name is Atem!”. Right as he had spoken the magical word, the eye split down the middle and the door started to open, to reveal blinding lights and what appeared to be his lost family and friends behind a veil of light.

He closed his eyes and tried to take a step forward, but it was almost like he was glued to the spot. He simply couldn´t move and he knew why, but it just wasn´t meant to be, so he had to be strong for the both of them and he had to step through the door and watch it close behind him, leaving his one true love behind and watch his world turn grey again.

He opened his eyes and managed to take a few steps forward until a booming voice stopped him.

“Pharaoh Atem!” it called out to him from behind the blinding lights inside the door and it seemed like a powerful person calling out to him, perhaps even a god.

“You have suffered enough during your short life and also for the past five thousand years. We are willing to give you a second chance at life, but only because you saved the world countless times and suffered for it. You died too young and got trapped in your most beloved possession. The gods all agree, it is too cruel to separate you and your soulmate at this point, so we are gifting you with a new body, not unlike your former one and also marking you as the chosen pharaoh” the voice explained and Atem took a few steps back as a ray of golden light surrounded him and covered his entire body, swirling around him like a tornado.

It didn´t hurt, but he did feel a jolt of electricity run through his entire body as his spirit was once again contained in a body entirely his own. His skin as dark as in the past and all the golden bracelets and various other jewellery adorned his body once again. His crown a heavy, but familiar weight atop his head and the freeing shendyt was once again wrapped around his waist and upper body. His shoes also turned into the ones he wore doing his time in ancient Egypt and those were way too comfortable compared to Yugi´ usual ankle boots, so that was probably going to be a problem for him. 

As he looked down his body, a thought struck him and when the light finally settled and went back from whence it came. He finally uttered “Osiris, God of the afterlife and his wife Isis, God of rebirth are the only ones capable of doing this impossible deed, so the voice that spoke before could only have been you, Osiris. You may have spoken to the other gods, but you are one of the only gods capable of this, so I thank you and your wife and all the other gods for agreeing to this. I hope to live a long and happy life, so I have a lot of good stories to tell my family and friends, once I join them in the afterlife, but there was no need to adorn me with my old attire, I have no need for it in this life”.

“You may not need it, but we still wanted to give it to you because you are the true king, the chosen king and once you return to the afterlife, you will be the only king, because we all see you as the only worthy one, the others share the responsibilities right now, but once you join them, it will be yours alone to share with your other half,” Osiris said and that made Atem turn around to look at Yugi, still standing with his grandpa. They both had tears streaming down their faces, but their smiles were no longer from sadness, but happiness, because Atem got his own body and would now be able to live out his life with all of them.

Atem didn´t even think, he just ran towards Yugi, who ran to meet him somewhere in the middle and they crashed into each other, holding each other tightly.

“I´m never letting you go ever again” Yugi whispered into his ear and hugged him a little tighter.

“Now that we have accomplished what we wanted, the door to the afterlife will close and you will all be able to return home. Hope you all have a good, long life” Osiris said and the eye glowed once again, making the door start to close and they all turned to wave at the people standing beyond the veil of light, watching them all wave back with smiles on their faces, happy for their pharaoh.

Yugi grabbed Atem´ hand and turned him around to face him, so he could look at him, because he looked exactly as he had in the past, in ancient Egypt, even the crown was on his head.

“Well, now you have a costume for next Halloween,” said Yugi with a smile and Atem just sighed and shook his head.

“True, but does it not look too realistic?” he asked, striking a pose.

Yugi laughed and said “Nah, it can pass for a very realistic pharaoh-costume, but I wouldn´t mind taking it off and you wearing something less” with an added sultry look at the end, which made Atem look very red in the face.

They both heard Kaiba gag from somewhere nearby, having had enough of their mushy moments, but they all ignored him and heard him huff in irritation.

“Guess we need to get going,” Atem said very quickly and dragged Yugi along behind him.

“What? Why?” the others asked in unison and just followed behind them.

“Because Yugi and I need to get reacquainted and because when the door finishes closing, the millennium-tablet is going to be swallowed by the ground and will drag the rest of this place with it and I know this because it stood on the door to the afterlife, so we need to get out of here quickly,” Atem said while he broke into a run instead of walking because the door was almost closed, so they had to get a move on and the others followed without question.

They reached the entrance just as the ceiling began to collapse, so they all ran up the stairs and threw themselves into the sand as to not get trapped under some rubble.

They all made it safely into the desert air, although Atem had made sure that he took the brunt of the impact against the unforgiving desert ground, so he was a bit sore but otherwise unharmed.

“Atem, are you okay?” Yugi asked concerned as he looked down at Atem.

“Yeah, I am fine, just a bit sore, but I just did not want you to take any harm” he answered and looked up at Yugi cupping his cheeks in his hands and pulling him down for a kiss, which Yugi eagerly returned, having thought he had already had the last kiss he could get from him in this lifetime.

They were both pretty into it until someone cleared their throat and made them both look up, although Atem had to do it at an awkward angle, which made him see the others upside-down.

“We all know you´d rather be alone right now and spend a lot of time touching each other, but I think we would all like to know when this…” Tea said, gesturing towards them in their current position “…happened” she finished and put her hands on her hips.

Yugi and Atem looked at each other and then turned beet red. Yugi then promptly tried but failed to get up because he lost his balance and fell onto Atem, who lost his breath and just laid there like a dying man. Yugi tried again and succeeded, so he helped Atem onto his legs and then they were both standing, looking very embarrassed, while the others were very much laughing at their expense.

“Remind me to get some new friends when we get home,” Yugi said and looked at Atem, who also began laughing.

Yugi pouted at that and turned his back on everyone, looking very offended, so Atem made it his mission to do something about it and tickled him in all his ticklish spots, which made him laugh and flail around with his arms, making a very funny sight.

“Okay, okay, I give,” Yugi said, which got Atem to stop his assault and give him a moment to catch his breath.

“Now, would you like to go first, Atem or should I?” asked Yugi, looking right at Atem, who looked like he had to take a moment to think about it.

“I´ll go first. I know exactly when it happened, while it may not have been the best of circumstances, it did make me realise how deeply I cared for our dear Yugi” he said and looked lovingly at the boy in his arms.

He diverted his gaze to the others and continued explaining. “It was after the Orichalcos had taken away his soul because when he pushed me out of the way, he made me realise how much I cared about him. He sacrificed his soul to save mine and that was why I was so sad afterwards because I was alone in a body that was not mine but belongs to the one, I love. It was not easy to be without him after that, because of my feelings for him, so when we finally got him back, I never left him out of my sight, I was always by his side in spirit or otherwise present in some way as to watch over him and make sure nothing like that would happen again. I never told him, because I was afraid it would ruin our friendship or partnership. That me confessing would cause a rift between us that could never be mended” he said regretfully, looking away from everyone.

Yugi took a hold of his hand and squeezed it in his, looking lovingly at their entwined hands “that´s why I didn´t confess either. I was afraid it would tear us apart and you´d never speak to me again. Although I have to admit that I´ve harboured feelings for you longer than that” he started and Atem quickly turned his head around to look at him because of what he said. He had a surprised look on his face which made Yugi giggle and continue his explanation.

“After Duel Kingdom, I started seeing you as a partner and then when Bandit Keith took the puzzle, I started to realise that I´d do anything to keep you safe and if that meant defeating him alone in a duel, I´d do it in a heartbeat and I almost did. When he realised that he wasn´t going to win, he broke the puzzle and broke my heart in the process. It made me realise that I´d fallen in love with the spirit of the millennium puzzle even though I barely knew him, I knew enough to know that he was important to me and I had to save him from eternal darkness. I was lucky my friends helped me and also got the puzzle out, I don´t know how I would´ve felt if they hadn´t saved the both of us” he ended the explanation, looking up at his two saviours.

“I can never thank you enough for saving us both” Yugi said directly to his two friends.

They looked at each other and then at Yugi and Joey said “Nah, no need to thank us, plus you had a very good hold on the puzzle, I think we would´ve had to break it out of your cold, dead hands to get you to let go” he ended it with a shrug and a smile.

“You´re probably right,” said Yugi with a laugh, but was abruptly cut off when Atem pulled him into his arms.

“Please, do not joke about that. I could have lost you in that fire. I may not have realised my feeling for you back then, but I still cared deeply for you and hearing you laugh like that about risking your own life, it cuts me deeply in the heart and I just…” a sob ripping through his throat cut him off, but he fought through it to choke out “I cannot bear to hear it!” he yelled and then buried his face in Yugi´ hair because that was the most comfortable place for him to reach.

Yugi wrapped his arms around him, holding him tightly and rubbing his back soothingly.

“Sorry, I know you may not seem like it, but you are a very sensitive person and there´s nothing wrong with that, I just tend to forget it and say or do something that will make you cry and I apologize for that and also for laughing because of course, it´s not a laughing matter. You know that I´m not usually insensitive, I just forget sometimes, that you don´t have quite the same humour as we do. It´s okay that you don´t, we just need to remember that when we joke around you and we always seem to forget, but I guess it was easy to forget you were even there because you were a part of me and not physically there, so now it probably won´t be as hard” Yugi said and squeezed Atem a little harder before he let go and held Atem at arm´s length so he could look into his eyes.

“Sorry, sometimes I just need a little humour in my life, so I don´t lose my mind or break down in tears,” he said with a very apologetic face. He wiped away Atem´ tears and he nuzzled into his hands and smiled at him.

“It is okay. I just need to get used to your sort of humour. Can we please find a hotel or something, so we can relax and cuddle for a bit” he pleaded Yugi, making puppy dog eyes at him.

Yugi looked back at the others and they all nodded frantically, wanting to relax here for a while too before going back home, so he turned back to Atem and smiled at him, taking his hand and pulling him towards the car.

“You can stay at our house until you feel like going home,” Marik said after Ishizu had nodded at him, permitting him to offer them that.

“You wouldn´t mind?” Yugi asked.

“Of course not, we have way too many empty rooms anyway, all furnished and ready to be used, so you guys just come along and stay as long as you´d like,” Marik said with a smile and they all cheered at that, running towards the car, all getting in.

Yugi and Atem took the backseat and cuddled into each other after buckling their seatbelts. They just wanted to enjoy being together and being alone before they had to go home and explain everything to their other friends.

“Oh my god, how is Rebecca going to react to this!?” Tea burst out and all Yugi could say was: “Fuck!” as he buried his head in Atem´ shoulder.


End file.
